Everybody experienced hunger and satiety, everybody knows that eating is a need and also a pleasure. But which are the underlining control mechanisms? Which dynamics regulate our eating behaviours and sensations? Why sometimes this system fails and we eat much less than we need or much more than the body could afford?
As omnivore animals, humans obtain food from vegetables and other animals, in a combination that comes from physiological needs and varies according to culture, tradition, religion. But what is the proportion of nutrients best for our health? What is the role for carbohydrates, fats, protein? How do we assimilate and utilize food components? Could a wrong nutrition facilitate or cause diseases?
Almost everyday a new "revolutionary" diet is proposed for improving health and wellbeing. Is there any rationale for these, sometimes radical, approches? Which are the most reliable nutritional guidelines and how do they fit different conditions and ages?
This booklet will try to answer to these and other questions in the ambitious attempt to coniugate up-to-date scientific evidence and comprehensible practical suggestions in a field of very few certainties and a lot of contradictory messages.

Ottavio Bosello, MD, is Professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology and Director of the Department of Biomedical and Surgical Sciences, Division of Geriatrics - School of Geriatrics, Center for the Study of Clinical Nutrition, Obesity and Eating disorders at the University of Verona.

Vincenzo Di Francesco, MD, PhD, is Assistent Professor of Clinical Nutrition - Department of Biomedical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition - Center for the Study of Clinical Nutrition, Obesity and Eating disorders at the University of Verona.